College of Law students assist immigrant families in applying for refugee status

A group of College of Law students recently traveled to Karnes Detention Center in San Antonio, Texas, to assist immigrant families asking a federal court for asylum in the United States.

Lauren Bergeron, 3L, Luis Apolinarfio, LLM, and Brian Malone, 2L, successfully represented a family in a judge's review of their petition for asylum. Prior to the hearing, the family's case was denied by an asylum officer, who conducted an interview with the family to determine if there was a credible fear of persecution or torture in the family's home country. Because of the judge's ruling, the family will now be able to formally seek asylum.

In another case, Kaitlin Locascio, 3L, Piotr Kordas, 3L, and Kate Richardson, 1L, were not successful in seeking asylum on behalf of their client. The team will pursue reconsideration.

Separately, Maria Deguzman, 3L, Allison Sickle, 1L, and Anil Tanyildiz, LLM, prepared clients for interviews with asylum officers to make the case for credible fear of persecution or torture in their home countries. The students also prepared clients for a judge's review of their cases after asylum officers denied the requests.